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So, how do I not eat meat?

For a full year?

New Year’s Day for me falls in October. Because that’s my birth month. I’ve started getting far more intentional about what I want to accomplish in the 12 months between birthdays. Far too many years have come and gone and the only thing I got was older.

I don’t want to just be older.

This past year the goal was to do 20,000 push-ups, which worked out to be 55 push-ups per day, every day, for 365 days. I still don’t really know why I wanted to do it. I guess the most important part of this was me proving to me that I could commit to something and actually take consistent daily action for an entire year to make it happen.

And I did.

This year’s goal is a bit more ambitious. It involves a significant change in my diet by adopting a whole food, plant-based diet. Meat free. For a year. The problem? How do I NOT eat meat for a full year?

I’ve always eaten meat. Always. Meat is part of the family. Meat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Broiled. Baked. Fried. Grilled. Smoked. I can’t imagine I’ve ever gone more than a day or two without eating the flesh of some animal.

I don’t know how to not eat meat.

I guess I’m gonna have to figure that out.

But I’m not going to wait until I do before I start.

I’m not fully prepared for this transition. Sure, I’ve done some research in the past few weeks and have tried a few plant-based recipes recently. But committing to such a radical change? For an entire year? Without being fully prepared?

Willingly diving into something new isn’t what I’ve always been known for. I’ve always been one of those people who would need to know just about everything about something before starting. Research. Collect info. Collect more info. Read another book. I’ve come to think that my need to collect data was actually a fear-based response to “justify” not doing.

Life has taught me, though, that you’ll never know it all before you start anything. You’ll never be fully prepared, no matter the situation. Doing is the best way to learn. Doing will teach you what you really need to know.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear” said Buddha.

Maybe you have some ideas or goals or things you’ve always wanted to do but never have. Maybe you’re a bit apprehensive, still collecting data, gathering info, creating a plan, waiting to have it all figured out before taking that first step.